Reading the below article in Forbes prompted me to reflect on a conversation I had last week with my colleague Adam Elgar.
Adam was making the point that in high-value B2B sales processes, relationships between vendors and purchasers are key.
Typically, individuals with buying authority are themselves experts within their given niche. And I really believe it's a universal truth that where possible, these experts will invariably buy from other experts, who they know, trust and like.
Professional relationships are built on authenticity, trust, and reciprocity. Anyone that's exhausted their personal network will know that valuable relationships are hard to build from scratch. The interactions and conversations people have with their stakeholders are so important in maintaining and nurturing business relationships, and in recent years content has become, in my opinion, the single best way to talk to and influence the people you care most about.
Be authentic with your content, write with your most important stakeholders in mind, and make sure what you write delivers genuine value. Doing this will remind those key people that you're the go-to person in your market, and it will make them feel they have benefitted from your knowledge transfer. What's nice is that they'll often feel a desire to be helpful in return.